Lyric Theatre

Joe Vogel on November 4, 2023 at 3:39 pm

The October 12, 1916 issue of Motography mentioned the Lyric and two Mr. Birums: “Claude Page has sold his interest in the Lyric Theater in Osage to A. G. Birum, father of Fred Birum, his partner.”

The November 4 issue of the same journal had information that might (or might not) shed a bit of light on the Lyric’s history: “Birum & Birum have opened the new Lyric Theatre at Osage.” New? A bit of a complication if we take that literally.

Then the November 11 issue had more news about Osage and Fred Birum: “Beginning November 1, the Sprague Theater in Osage will be under the management of Fred Birum, owner of the Lyric. Mr. Birum will operate both theaters, bringing the larger productions to the Sprague, as its seating accommodations are better.”

Joe Vogel on November 3, 2023 at 4:57 pm

The name Lyric Theatre goes back to at least as early as 1909 in Osage, when the May 15 issue of Moving Picture World said that H. E. Baumgartner had sold the Lyric Theater at Osage to W. L. Kennedy and H. G. Atherton. Mr. Baumgartner was back in the theater business at Osage with a house called the Lyric (maybe the same one, maybe a different one) by 1912, when the August 31 issue of MPW mentioned them.

In 1913, the July 12 issue of MPW reported that Mr. Baumgartner of the Lyric at Osage had been elected as a delegate to represent the Iowa Exhibitor’s League at a national convention in New York. The Lyric alone was mentioned in the March 14, 1916 issue ofMPW. In April, Mr. Baumgartner sold the Lyric to Fred Birum an Claude Page, according to MPW of April 29. The very last mention of the Lyric I’ve found is from the August 24, 1918 MPW.

I haven’t found the name Imperial Theatre connected with Osage in any of the trade journals, nor the name Guy Alchon, which I did find in his widow’s obituary from 1965, but that contains no mention of a theater. The NRHP registration form that mentions the Imperial and Alchon, oddly fails to mention the Lyric at all. The only theaters listed at Osage in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory are called the Bijou, no location given, the Sprague, which was the old Opera House, and the Lyric, listed at 7th and Main Streets.

It might be that Mr. Alchon never operated the Imperial himself, but was only the owner of the building, and it became the second location of the Lyric by 1912. That would not speak very well for the researches who put together the NRHP registration form, but I’ve found that errors and omissions are, sadly, not a rare failing in such publications.